Because He'll be Sad Later
by CraftyNarma
Summary: The Doctor and River have a son named Link. This is the story of his birth up to his third birthday.


This story is better while listening to the Wedding of River Song

* * *

The Doctor had never been so scared in his entire life. And he was over a thousand years old and had faced almost every monster in the entire universe. But this time it wasn't a monsters striking fear into the Doctor's very hearts. This time it was miracle.

The Doctor paced back and forth outside the hospital room. The sound of his wife screaming, in more pain he could imagine, sent pangs of worry and dread through his system. Even though Time Lords can control the hormone levels, and therefore their emotions, consciously, all he could concentrate on was his wife in the room on the other side of the door. This was all his fault. All the pain he was causing her was because he had made a mistake. But when a hurried nurse who was rushinf past him to a different part of the hospital looked over at him to smiled and hurriedly congratulated him, he realized what a wonderful accident they had made, him and his wife, River Song.  
After a few hours of pacing and beaming and worrying and even a few moments of sitting, the doctor, not the Time Lord, the woman with the medical PhD, came and invited the brand new father into the room where his wife had just given birth. The Doctor rushed into the room and went straight to where River Song was laying in her bed, a tiny little wrinkly thing cuddled in her arms, quiet and calm.  
"River! We made a thing!" The Doctor pointed to the baby as a big, dorky grin spread across his face. "What is it?"  
"It's a baby, Sweetie," River smiled down at the little bundle swathed in a hospital blanket. "Our baby."  
"Well, I know that, but is it a boy or a girl?" The Doctor couldn't stop beaming down at this little creature that he had helped make. Admittedly, River had done most of the work, but without him, this little life wouldn't be here. The little baby looked tired but to the Doctor, he could almost see a little glow around the child. The baby had a little tuft of orange blond hair sticking out from underneath the blanket. It wasn't as wild and curly as his mother's, but it was defiantly crazier than the baby's fathers. By the hair alone, there was no doubt that this baby was the work of River Song and her Doctor.  
"He's a boy," River smiled. The baby groggily looked up at his mother and and whimpered quietly. Not a sad whimper, just a quiet baby noise. River passed the beautiful little boy to his father and smiled as the man held the baby, his baby, with all the wonder of the young man he looked like. He had looked so old and terrified when she had screamed at him that the baby was coming, and now that the baby was here, he was all the Doctor could look at.  
"Hello," the Doctor looked down at his son. "I'm Dad." He hadn't said those words to a baby in at least ten life times. He hadn't held _his_ baby in just as many. This little wrinkled, calm boy looked up at the man who held him and gurgled. He held out a pudgy little hand curiously. The stubby little baby fingers grasped the big finger his dad held out to him. A tear landed on the white blanket.  
"I'm a dad," the Doctor looked at his exhausted wife with tears of joy in his eyes, the big dorky grin still plastered on his face. "We're Mum and Dad, River." He whispered like it was too hard to believe. "What are we going to call him?"  
"I was thinking we could call him Link," River said. She smiled the small little grin that the baby wore as he held with all his little might onto his fathers finger, which seemed to bring him much joy. It didn't bring the baby nearly as much joy to be holding into his father's finger than it did for the Doctor to look down at this baby, Link, and see his wife's smile.  
"Out of all of Space and Time, Link," The Doctor said. "You and your mother are the most important people." The baby gurgled gleefully as the Doctor wiggled his finger playfully, not understanding what his father was saying.

"Happy birthday, kiddo!" The Doctor walked into the dining area of the little house he and River had rented as soon as they realized raising a child on a spaceship was not as responsible as they would have hoped.  
Link sat in his mother's lap as his dad brought in the cake. The toddler had a huge grin on his face. When he saw the huge thing his dad had been working on all day, he wanted to eat the whole thing himself. It was big enough for an entire horde of party guest, but only the small family of three would be sharing it.  
"Where's you're guy's cake?" Link asked after he had blown out the candles and made a wish, _please get me a puppy_. Link may have only been two, but he had started talking when he was only six months old. Though he was still a little wobbly on his feet, he could run like no one's business.  
"Sweetie," River laughed. "You don't get the whole cake to yourself."  
"To much of a good thing," the Doctor smiled and ruffled Link's hair. The little boy pouted when he realized he'd only get one piece of cake at a time. "But we will have left overs for a while!" The Doctor smiled as he reassured the little boy that he would be getting a lot of cake. Just not all at once.  
After the cake was done, Link opened his one present gleefully. He only got one from both his parents. He pulled a knitted blue scarf out of a box and held it to his face. It smelled like campfire and River's perfume. It was the softest thing Link had held in his entire two years of life.  
"Wow, Daddy!" Link hopped off of his mother's lap and held the scarf up to his dad. "it's so soft and warm and it smells just like Mummy!"  
"I know!" The Doctor exclaimed and scooped his little son in his arms and spun the joyous little child around before pulling him close in a hug. Nothing in the world made River happier than watching her two boys being happy together. Nothing filled her with as much joy as the music that was Link's high pitched giggling accompanied by her husband's much deeper laugh. She had known the Doctor longer than she had not known him, and she had never seen him so happy as when his little boy was in his arms and his wife was in arms' reach.  
"Mummy!" Link called to her. "Group hug!" And before long the day that marked her son's second birthday became the happiest day of River's life.

It was late at night and it was raining outside. Link had never liked loud, startling noises, but he was two-and-a-half now so he wasn't scared. That's what he told himself as he huddled under his big, TARDIS blue over blanket, his scarf held firmly in one hand. A flash of thunder and a jolt of lighting snapped Link out of his bed and the little boy rushed down the hallway to the living room, where his dad kept the TARDIS, and curled up against the humming time and space ship.  
"It's too dangerous!" Link heard his mother's voice, soft and angry, drift from his parent's room when there was a small quell in the storm. Link had never heard his parents angry before.  
"He needs friends," The Doctor pleaded. He was angry too, but it was harder to hear.  
"He's our son," River said back. Link had no idea what they where talking about. "You know what that means. There probably isn't a place safe for him in the universe." Link didn't understand what his mother meant. As long as he was with his parents, nothing could hurt him. Mummy and Daddy were invisible.  
"He should at least know one other child," the Doctor pleaded.  
"No one can know he exists," River said. She sounded scared and angry, two things Link never though his mother could be. "What if _she_ takes him."  
"No one would dare hurt my son," the Doctor reassured his wife. "Especially not _her_." Who ever _she_ was, she sounded dangerous. But surely there was nothing out there that Mum and Dad couldn't handle, Link thought. Nothing could stop them.  
"I've got a new job," River said. The storm had all but stopped and their door was open a crack. "Strackman Lux just overrode the security code on the Library, the one that shut down a hundred years ago. He wants me to lead his expedition. I said yes. This will be my last one before I retire to just teaching so I can spend more time with Link."  
"Do you have to go?" The Doctor asked. His voice was so quiet, Link could barley make out the whispered words. He didn't want Mummy to leave. He liked it when she stayed home.  
"You can't stop me from this one," River said smugly. Link could see the smirk on her face. She and Dad talked like that a lot.  
"I know. It's just," the Doctor's thought was lost in the air. He did that a lot. "I'm going to go check on Link. Be right back."  
"Oh you'd better be," River chuckled.  
Link quickly feigned sleep as his Dad came out of his room to find the little boy huddled up with his blanket against the space ship.  
"And how long have you been out here?" The Doctor whispered as he gently picked up the little boy and carried him back to his room so he could tuck him back into bed. As the Doctor lowered the 'sleeping' child back into his soft, warm bed, Link's hazel-green eyes fluttered open.  
"Where's Mummy going?" Link asked groggily. "I don't want Mummy to go, Daddy." Link whispered. "If she leaves, she'll come back right?" Link looked up as his dad in the dim light. The storm had started again and a flash of lightning illuminated the room. The Doctor's face was stained with tears. Before the thunder even sounded, the man scooped his son up in his arms and held him close. The twelve thousand year old man held the two year old boy and cried silently, shaking softly as he rocked his little boy in his arms, back and forth, back and forth.  
"Of course Mummy's coming back," The Doctor cried. "Mummy will always come back. I promise."  
"M'kay," Link muttered. He held out his hand and grabbed onto his dad's hand. Link could have sworn he felt cold tears fall from his dad's face and into his hand. But his Dad never cried.

Dad hadn't been home in a while and River had stayed home with him instead of Dad. Link kept asking when Dad was coming back but his mum would just smile sadly, ruffle his hair like Dad was supposed to and say 'He'll be back. He always comes back.'  
True to his mother's word, Dad showed up on their door step in a brand new suit and a shorter hair cut. Link rushed to him and like always his Dad swung him through the air before holding him close. They laughed and River came out of their room in a beautiful black dress and a pair of black high heals. The a Doctor went to her, Link still his arms, and leaned over and kissed River. He smiled down at Link and kissed his forehead before putting his little boy down on the ground again.  
"Link," River knelt down in front of her son and brushed one of the many stray hairs from her son's face. "Daddy and I are going to go to Darillium and then I'm going to go on an expedition. You might not see me for a little bit but I'll be back before you know it."  
"Promise?" Link said. He believed his mother was coming back, but he just wanted to hear it from her in the most final of ways. A promise. River smiled and kissed her son's mop of unruly hair and whispered one word in his ear: 'promise.'  
"Link," the Doctor addressed his son in his mock serious tone. "Your Godfather, Uncle Jack, is going to look after you until I get back. Be on your best behavior, we don't want to scare him off, okay?" Link had never met anyone other than his parents before and the prospect of a new person made him giddy.  
"Is Uncle Jack cool?" Link asked excitedly, wonderment and curiosity filling his eyes to brim.  
"Yeah, he's cool," The Doctor grinned. "But not bow tie cool." The Doctor adjusted his bow tie and smiled at Link mischievously, like when he let Link have an extra cookie before bed even though River said no more.  
"Oh stop it you," River smacked the Doctor's arm playfully and the two left their little house and Uncle Jack took their place, but just until Dad came back. Then Mum would come back and everything would be normal again, like before the storm when Mum said she was leaving.

Ulcers Jack had come back for Link's third birthday party six months later and had come with a whole hoard of new toys. Link was happy to see his Uncle Jack again. Dad hadn't been the same when he came back from Darillium. He cried when he thought Link wasn't looking and Link didn't know why. Mum was coming back. She promised. Maybe he just missed her. She was taking a long time and she was missing Link's third birthday, but she's be back before he knew it. She promised.  
As Link blew out the candles, he thought of the blue scarf he had gotten last year. The campfire smell had faded but it still smelled like River Song. Link silently made his wish, _please bring Mummy back_.

* * *

Why do I do this to my favorite characters? I say to myself, you what would be cool? If Link were a Time Lord! Then I kill his mother. (Technically Moffat killed her but still)


End file.
